The use of the Arabic script in northern Mozambique

TYDSKRIF VIR LETTERKUNDE • 45 (1) • 2008 133

The use of the Arabic script innorthern Mozambique

The use of the Arabic script in northernMozambique

Northern Mozambican Muslim population has been using the Arabic script for writing in KiSwahili and local African languagesfor centuries. Even today, many people continue using this script in private correspondence. Despite the abundance of thedocuments in this script that are housed at the Mozambique Historical Archives as well as in private hands, these documents havenever been addressed or researched either from linguistic, historical, cultural or religious vantage points. For the last seven years,the Archives have been trying to draw attention of the scholars and obtain funds for the preservation and research of thedocuments. In this article two short letters from the collection of the Mozambique Historical Archives are transcribed andtranslated with the help of a local shaykh who was educated within the regional historical Islamic literacy tradition. Then, thecontent and the protagonists of the letters were identified and analyzed with the reference to the historical context and the eventsof the time. Besides serving as the evidence for historical occurrences, the letters also provide a general public with a uniqueopportunity of “hearing the voices” of the authors and in their own words (in first person). Key words: Mozambique, Islam,KiSwahili, Arabic.

Liazzat J. K. BonateLiazzat J. K. Bonate is on the staff at

the Centre of African Studies andteaches at the Faculty of Arts and

Social Sciences of Eduardo MondlaneUniversity, Maputo, Mozambique.

E-mail: [email protected]

IntroductionThe northern Mozambican Muslim population has used the Arabic script for com-munication purposes among the coastal communities where KiSwahili remaineddominant amidst some of the significant local variants such as Ekoti (the languageof the Angoche’s Koti people [see Schadeberg & Mucanheia 2000]), Esangaji (thelanguage of the Sangage people [see Lyndon 2007; Schadeberg 1997]), or KiMwani(see Rzewuski 1979; Schadeberg & Mous 1994: 239–244; Petzell 2002: 88–110). Atthe same time, this script was used for writing in local African languages of themainland, such as Macua, Yao and others. A considerable number of people in con-temporary northern Mozambique do not write nor read the official language of thecountry, namely Portuguese; but they continue using the Arabic script in privatecorrespondence. In fact, writing a letter to parents in this script along with recitationof the Qur’an remains one of the traditional ways of showing that a student of aQur’anic school has concluded his/her studies. While many northern Mozambicans,who have kinship and religious ties with Tanzania, understand KiSwahili and tune

08 Bonate 03.pmd 2/18/2008, 5:25 PM133

TYDSKRIF VIR LETTERKUNDE • 45 (1) • 2008134

into the regional KiSwahili radio station, the language is no longer as commonlyused for writing as it was the case when it was a regional lingua franca of East Africaand northern Mozambique in the nineteenth century.

A substantial number of documents in the Arabic script from northern Mozam-bique are housed in the national archives and in many private hands; both sets ofcollections have remained largely unexplored, however. As far as it could be ascer-tained from preliminary fieldwork research, the private documents contain mostlyinformation on genealogies and family histories, and are thus suitable to shed lighton transformations of the local and regional power alliances and the emergence ofnotable lineages and chiefdoms through migration and conquest. Moreover, the doc-uments also disclose important aspects of the local culture such as the intellectualand literary traditions of the region and in particular the Islamic ones. In addition tothe more traditional aspects of the religious literature, private collections include theqasa’id (praise poetry), fables and tales inspired by Islam and local African historicaltraditions, Sufi literature, and the literature on healing, divination, dream-readingand amulet writing.

The collection of documents in the Arabic script is kept at the MozambiqueHistorical Archives in Maputo and they contain mainly the nineteenth centurycorrespondence between local African rulers and the Portuguese military com-manders in the regions of the contemporary coastal Cabo Delgado and Nampulaprovinces. Although of an official nature, these documents illustrate legal, reli-gious, cultural and economic aspects of the local societies of the time, as well asshow the interconnectedness of the coastal Mozambique to the world of the Swa-hili in East Africa and other centres of Islam along Indian Ocean shores.

In this article two short letters from this collection are examined. Both of themdate from the 1890s, and are written by the African rulers of the regions of Ango-che (local name Nguja) and Sangage to the Portuguese military commanders (Port.,Capitão-Mór). The documents are in KiSwahili and not in any of the local lan-guages. The letters were translated by shaykh Abu Dale, a KiMwani-speaker fromcoastal Cabo Delgado, who learned KiSwahili through the use of the Arabic scriptin the town of Lindi, Tanganyika, while studying with a Qadiri shaykh AbdallahAbdurrahman (a disciple of shaykh ‘Umar al-Qullatayn of Zanzibar) between1959 and 1962. According to shaykh Abu Dale, the letters reveal that, althoughthose who wrote them could speak and understand KiSwahili, it was not theirnative tongue; the fact which was reflected in some of the spelling and grammat-ical mistakes.

A letter from FarallahiThe first letter is from Omar bin Nacogo Farallahi (Farelay in Portuguese sources),who was a nephew of the legendary Musa Quanto (d. 1879) and a brother of the

08 Bonate 03.pmd 2/18/2008, 5:25 PM134


Angoche Sultan Ibrahim (who reigned in 1889–1920). Unfortunately, no records per-taining to Farallahi’s birth and death dates are available (see Lupi 1907, Coutinho1935, Bonate 2003, 2006). The letter dates 3 June 1894 and is addressed to the Portu-guese military commander at Parapato (the mainland of Angoche, where a smallPortuguese garrison was stationed). It was written amidst a generalized upheavalof the European military conquests of the “effective occupation” following theBerlin Conference (1884–1885) and the Treaty between Portugal and Britain (1891)which set to delineate the borders between the two colonies. At the time, whilethe Sultan continued to guard Angoche’s maritime interests from his seat on Cat-amoyo Island, Farallahi had opted to settle on the mainland where he became thechief of the Mluli region.

Farallahi, like other African chiefs of his time, was involved in the internation-al slave trade, but was, however, irritated by the Portuguese presence, mainlybecause they constantly interrupted his shipments of slaves along the coast; as aconsequence, he attacked the Parapato in 1890 (Lupi 1907: 212–213). Fortunately,the approaching vessel named Tamega saved the day for the Portuguese. Follow-ing Farallahi’s flight, various lesser chiefs came to submit to the Portuguese, andin the face of this massive exodus of the from the rank and file of his supporters,Farallahi decided to submit to the Portuguese too out of strategic interests to buyhimself some time. Thus, he signed a treaty with the Portuguese, who left himalone after thereafter. During the following year, Farallahi visited the chiefs of theregion, including those who officially submitted to the Portuguese and as a resultof his negotiations he gained the upper hand in the regions again.

The letter below is written during this intermediary period before the finalconquest of Angoche by the Portuguese in 1910. In it, Farallahi demands the Por-tuguese commander to come to him, and force the traders, who established theirshops without his permission, to pay him tributes of one hundred reais. ShaykhAbu Dale and Liazzat Bonate rendered its transcription and translation, as fol-lows:

Introductory line Hafivati lahi ta’allah May the Almighty Allah protect him

1st line ilah janabi al-’aziz al-akram rahman this letter is to the noble one, the great,li mufadhali ali mughadham respected, pious, knowledgeable and superi-

or

2nd line indana guvernadur di Nguji salaamuhu greetings from our side to the governoralla’huta’allah of Nguja, God is with us

08 Bonate 03.pmd 2/18/2008, 5:25 PM135


During 1902, Farallahi camped 2km away outside Parapato, and announced to thePortuguese that he was coming to “lie down in his own bed” (Amorim 1910: 21).Then together with various chiefs of neighbouring regions, he descended onParapato and burned and pillaged the station-village. The desperate inhabitantswere saved by a French vessel that later reported the occurrence to the Europeanmedia mocking the myth of the Portuguese dominion in Mozambique. And in1903, the new captain of Angoche, José Augusto Cunha occupied and devastatedthe mainland of Angoche and proceeded to Catamoyo Island from which SultanIbrahim escaped (Amorim 1911: 23). Cunha destroyed the houses and the mosquesof the Sultan as well as that of his wazir, the Etite-mwene, and desecrated localcemeteries. Thereafter, he proclaimed the deposition of the Sultan. In retaliation,the Sultan, Farallahi, and their allies started harassing the Portuguese and raidingthe lands of the chiefs who collaborated with them. The Portuguese military com-manders were subjected to the payment of tributes and all the caravans comingfrom the interior to the Portuguese posts were attacked and plundered. The sepoysthat served as couriers between different Portuguese posts were burned alive; thetelegraphic cords of these posts were cut down. And their boats and vessels in-cluding the fishermen were assaulted at sea and the Portuguese traders wererobbed.

3rd line aida na kwarifuni habari ienu emini then, I am explaining to you, and warningwa swiliya jazakallah that I have already received what you

sent to me, Allah will pay you back well

4th line mimi nakwarifu mimi niko tarafa ya I am informing you that I am in the placeRimimi sita sindani of Rimini

5th line na Rimimi nataka ada yangu I will not fight Rimini, I want [to receive]nataka matajiri wa nipe reali mia my tribute, [and] I want the traders to pay

me 100 reais

6th line zangu nimizoweia makajana wa which are mine, I am used to it [because]linipa makahu sukuona last year they had paid, and this year have

not yet [paid]

7th line wa na kuja kutia duka bila muriango these traders came here to establishtheir shops without my permission

8th line naji capitamoro nionane the capitão-mór must come to talk to me

The lines at the mimi niko tarafa yari wa kitabaha I am staying in the place Yari wa Kitabanabottom of the page wa Mombefa Bunu Muhoko of Mombefa Bunu Muhoko– written up-sidedown

08 Bonate 03.pmd 2/18/2008, 5:25 PM136


08 Bonate 03.pmd 2/18/2008, 5:25 PM137


By 1906, Pedro Massano de Amorim, Ernesto Vilhena, and other Portuguese offi-cials conceived of a project that would lead to the total and effective occupation of theregion (Amorim 1911: 195–216). After four years in preparation and study, Angochewas conquered in 1910. Whilst some of the paramount chiefs were killed in the battle,the most important ones were imprisoned; and they, along with Farallahi and SultanIbrahim, were eventually deported to Guinea.

A letter from Mussa bunu Ibrahimu, the waziri of SangageThe second letter, dated May 7, 1895, is from Mussa bunu Ibrahimu to the Portu-guese military commander at Sangage. No information is available on Mussa bunuIbrahimu, except that he was the waziri (Sw., from Ar., wazir), or the principaladviser of the Shehe of the Sangage region by the name of Bwana Amadi. Similar toother Swahili regions, most of the African Muslim rulers of northern Mozambiquehad traditionally held the title of the Shehe, except for Angoche and Tungui that hadSultans. The Portuguese usually called the regions ruled by a shehe as xeicado (Port.,shaykhdom). Sangage was one of these xeicados, which according to oral tradition, wasfounded by the people of the Mozambique Island after Portuguese occupation of theisland-town in the sixteenth century. These people first migrated to nearby Sanculand subsequently – in the eighteenth century – moved to Sangage, the region thatwas under the control of the Sultanate of Angoche (Amorim 1911: 11–12, 35–39, 53–54;Lupi 1907: 165–71; Coutinho 1935: 10; Hafkin 1973: 9–10, 240). However, during theheight of the international slave trade, Bwana Amadi began trading and shipping offslaves from his own ports without the consent of the Angoche Sultan. Kidnappingand piracy in this region became commonplace and the shehe, who was the owner ofinnumerous slave trading vessels, had welcomed many such vessels to his ports,including those of the Portuguese negreiros from Mozambique Island, where the slavetrade was legally abolished (Amorim 1911: 23). Bwana Amadi and Sangage not onlydisregarded the supremacy of Angoche, but also became its major rival in the slavetrade. For that reason, Mussa Quanto and his heir, Sultan Usseni Ibrahimo attackedSangage several times, and besieged it in 1885. The Portuguese offered assistance toBwana Amadi which he accepted. Consequently, he signed a treaty that permittedthe Portuguese to establish a fiscal point and military garrison in Sangage in order tocurtail the slave trade. Though the shehe, who now became a regedor (Port., a smallking) under the Portuguese, had promised the Portuguese to stop trading in humanmerchandize and denounce any such activities in the regions under his control,Mwana Amadi was indeed regarded as one of the biggest clandestine slave tradersuntil his death in 1902. The Portuguese continuously suspected and reprimandedhim for this.

08 Bonate 03.pmd 2/18/2008, 5:25 PM138


08 Bonate 03.pmd 2/18/2008, 5:25 PM139


1st line ila liaddi al-‘aziz al-akram indana siniur the letter comes from me to the respected,kumadanti militari siniur karduzu kadi the great senhor military commander senhorhadakallah Cardoso, May Allah protect you

2nd line ama da’aduhu nakuarifu yakwamba mimi I am informing you about the time when Izamani niliukujakutuka kwangu bamuja came to my house with the judgenahakimu

3rd line wa mbamila majifumunu kuja kumtazama and a Mpamella Majifa-munu [went] to visitsiniur rigidur di sangage zamani senhor regedor of Sangage at that time

4th line niliu kuisha kumtazana akanabia kwa after he finished his visit, he said that shehesheiha aminipa mjakazi kunitumikia [of Sangage] gave me a slave woman toniubanu muanju work in my house

5th line hafa’i kamana kunakitu kadha wa this slave woman does not fit because shekadha za kufirnu kasha tina anaiu has a lot of things from the [Portuguese]mutuana ukutumika government; on the other hand, there is a

male slave that is serving

6th line nhumban. Namuuna kama mizi inside [my] house. He sees like a thiefkamanasikumuja alikuiba fedaiagu because one day he stole my money, but mimi nikamusuamehe bas later I forgave him. Then

7th line akanabia ya kama unaiu mutu qadiri he said to me: there is person who stays atiakuka muladuni nipe yeye akanipa the door [the guard], give me this man [sic],kaojili iazitu he gave me a man

8th line zilizu niumbani. Kwangaluia dipo to look after my things inside the house, so tonilipo kunda kwangu nikapata be a person who controls things. Afterwards,habariyakwa rigiduru when I came back home, I found out about

this news saying what regedor is saying

Mussa bunu Ibrahimu’s letter is written as a response to the accusation by one ofthe neighbouring Sangage African chiefs, the Majifa-munu, the chief of the Mpamella,who denounced the Shehe Bwana Amadi as an active slave trader whose “work was tobuy people”. The waziri, however, points out that Majifa-munu misunderstood thecircumstances surrounding the Shehe acquiring a woman to work at his house. Maji-fa-munu thought that the woman was a slave, but according to the waziri, she was not,and also, she was declined because there was already a male worker at home. Thewaziri’s point was that neither he nor the Shehe were involved in the slave trade. Heemphasizes that the shehe had “always worked for the Portuguese government”, andthat the Majifa-munu was lying and slandering the shehe’s and his waziri’s good names.Herewith follows a copy of the letter’s contents:

08 Bonate 03.pmd 2/18/2008, 5:25 PM140


ConclusionIn this article an attempt was made to investigate and explore the contents of twoshort letters that reflected upon specific socio-historical events and developments.The letters revealed that the Arabic script was not just employed to locally spokenAfrican languages in Mozambique but it was also used to communicate with Eu-ropean Portuguese rulers at that time; this seems to have been the nature of manyof the extant documents that have, of late, been located in the northern part ofMozambique. The use of Arabic script among the northern Mozambican Muslimsconstitutes a local tradition of longue durée, which still persists to this very day.

Despite the abundance of the documents in this script, they have never beenseriously addressed or researched either from linguistic, historical, cultural orreligious vantage points. While some of these historical documents are in KiSwa-hili, many of them were written in some of the local spoken African languages.Since they have not been given the necessary attention, this researcher is of theopinion that a multilingual team of specialists, who has mastered Arabic as wellas some or all of the local languages, will render Mozambique a great service ifthey are carefully scrutinized and studied. They will most definitely fill some ofthe historical gaps that still persevere in Mozambique’s rich past.

9th line kaziani nikumununwa watu hasha this news saying that the work of the regedorhabari hizu sissi sikumununai hali- was to buy people, the news that we had

never seen here

10th line -iaki [haliaki] nikazi iaguvernu sissi he is always busy with the work of thenajwa ku haiu niufitina duahili naui [Portuguese] government; we know that thissiniur news is a lie. You Mister

11th line kumadanti usiangamali haiu niufitina commander have nothing to do with thesewa uanwinziue la nakampa makusa words of lies of his comrade, you did not err,ya kini haiu no

12th line sissi hatiu’u diu habari zahuqu we here do not know of anything about thisshangazi aidoa nasissi siniur nifu- news that is being given by (senhor)

13th line -za [nifuza] rigidur siuniwa illa amani here senhor regedor we do not see anythingnawatu wa salaamu waziri Mussa bad, only [good and] peace of all people,bunu Ibrahimu barazani Sanagagi waziri Mussa bunu Ibrahimu, in the house

of Sangage

The line at 7 di mai 1845 this letter is of May 7, 1895/1314 of Hijrathe right margin [i.e. Islamic calendar counted from the flight ofof the page the Prophet from Mecca to Medinah]

08 Bonate 03.pmd 2/18/2008, 5:25 PM141


Works citedAmorim, P. M. De. 1910. Informações Relativa á Região de Angoche. Noticia Historica sobre o Distrito de

Moçambique. Lourenço Marques: Imprensa Nacional.Amorim, P. M. De. 1911. Relatório sobre a ocupação de Angoche: Operações de campanha e mais serviço realizados,

Anno 1910. Lourenço Marques: Imprensa Nacional.Bonate, Liazzat J. K. 2003. The ascendance of Angoche: Politics of kinship and territory in the nine-

teenth century Northern Mozambique. Lusotopie. 1: 115–43._____. 2006. Matriliny, Islam and gender in Northern Mozambique. Journal of Religion in Africa 36(2):

139–166.Coutinho, J. de A. 1935. As duas conquistas de Angoche. Lisboa: Pelo Imperio. No 11.Hafkin, N. J. 1973. Trade, society, and politics in Northern Mozambique, c. 1753-1913. Unpublished

Doctoral Dissertation. New York: Boston University.Lupi, E. do Couto. 1907. Angoche. Breve memória sobre uma das Capitanias-Môres do Distrito de Moçam-

bique. Lisboa: Typografia do Annuario Commercial.Lyndon, C. & Lyndon L. 2007. Enatthembo: An appraisal of linguistic and sociolinguistic factors.

SIL International. <www.sil.org/silesr/2007/silesr2007-003.pdf> Accessed: March 2007.Petzell, M. 2002. A sketch of Kimwani (a minority language of Mozambique). Africa & Asia. 2: 88–110.Rzewuski, E. 1979. Vocabulário da língua mwani (quimuane). Maputo: Eduardo Mondlane University

(Departamento de Letras Modernas).Schadeberg. T. C. 1994. KiMwani and the southern fringe of KiSwahili. In P. Bakker & M. Mous

(eds.). Mixed Languages: 15 Case Studies in Language Intertwining, Amsterdam: Instituut voorFunctioneel Onderzoek van Taal en Taalgebruik, 239–244.

_____ & Mucanheia, F. U. 2000. Ekoti: the Maka or Swahili Language of Angoche. Köln: Rüdiger KöppeVerlag.

Schadeberg, T. S. 1997. The Swahili-Languages from Mozambique. The Hague: Publication of the Dutch-Royal Academy of Sciences, Pt. 60 no. 2.

08 Bonate 03.pmd 2/18/2008, 5:25 PM142

Documents

The use of the Arabic script in northern Mozambique